University of Virginia Library

Slow Slide

In the second half of the
movie, after the boat wreck, he
is featured. Drew is gone,
Lewis wounded, and Bobby
incapable. If he is to survive, he
must do everything himself.
And through the whole long
slow slide to the end of the
movie, he never rests again.

No masculine statement is
made when Ed kills the second
mountain man. He kills the
man more by accident than
anything else. What statement
is made is merely a human one,
and that simply by the
incredible amount of things the
man must do to stay alive and
safe.

At several points near the
end of the film the story could
have been ended very
satisfactorily, but James
Dickey really makes his point
by continuing the story as long
as he does.

Ed never rests. He must
keep on rowing, keep on
thinking, keep on holding in
his emotions and is penalized
any time he slips. Even at the
film's end we realize that the
story is not really over, because
Ed must keep on holding in the
truth of what happened, and
the guilt that he feels, and the
fear of being discovered.